The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 03, 2015
Filed:
Sep. 25, 2014
Applicant:
Sandisk Technologies Inc., Plano, TX (US);
Inventors:
Takuya Futase, Nagoya, JP;
Katsuo Yamada, Yokkaichi, JP;
Tomoyasu Kakegawa, Yokkaichi, JP;
Noritaka Fukuo, Yokkaichi, JP;
Yuji Takahashi, Yokkaichi, JP;
Assignee:
SanDisk Technologies Inc., Plano, TX (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/762 (2006.01); H01L 21/768 (2006.01); H01L 21/764 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 21/76289 (2013.01); H01L 21/764 (2013.01); H01L 21/7682 (2013.01);
Abstract
Air gaps are formed between conductive metal lines that have an inner barrier layer and an outer barrier layer. An etch step to remove sacrificial material is performed under a first set of process conditions producing a byproduct that suppresses further etching. A byproduct removal step performed under a second set of process conditions removes the byproduct.